Library's ‘OverDrive’ service just for you

Posted
Wednesday, October 31, 2018 8:03 am

By Yvonne Carmichael, Dauphin Co. Library

Do you enjoy reading books on your smart phone or on a tablet? The Dauphin County Library has lots of titles to enjoy for those who like reading on electronic devices. Check out the titles available through the library’s OverDrive service here.

Don’t care to read on a tablet? Don’t worry, each title is also available in print. But in case you do like to read using an electronic device, you’re bound to find even more titles to enjoy through our OverDrive service, and all you need is your library card.

Remember, the Dauphin County Library System is a great place to start your journey for great reading.

White Houses by Amy Bloom

“Lorena “Hick” Hickok was a hard-boiled newspaper reporter, but she showed her tender side to the love of her life, Eleanor Roosevelt. In this new novel by the acclaimed author of Lucky Us, Hick tells her story in her own brash voice. By the time Eleanor meets her in 1932, Hick is a respected AP reporter. Hick moves into the White House, taking a job in the Roosevelt administration. The novel is told from Hickok’s perspective, opening with her childhood and eventually intertwining her life and the First Lady’s as we are taken behind the scenes at the White House, where Hickok lived.” (From Library Journal)

The Air You Breathe, by Frances de Pontes Peebles

“Both born in Brazil in 1920, Dores and Graca are from different stations and have different gifts: Dores is an intensely intelligent and ambitious orphan who works as a servant on a sugar plantation; Graca is the plantation owner’s charismatic and beautiful daughter, who has a remarkable singing voice. After forming a bond over music, the two girls begin to write samba songs together and form a successful partnership. But their relationship is fraught with jealousy and frustration and eventually fractures. The book is narrated from the present day, with Dores’s recollections conveying the increasingly complex nature of the friendship as they pursued fame: codependency, mutual envy, their love for the same man, and (eventually) the revelation of Dores’ unrequited love for Graca.” (From Publishers Weekly)

A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

This starts like a “deceptively simple tale of four male friends, Jude, Willem, Malcolm, and JB, who meet during their college years at Ivy League institutions. The men choose to continue their journeys into adulthood together by relocating jointly to New York. As they sustain their friendships into their fifties, the author delivers tales of their loyalty, love, and support for one another. However, lying beneath the surface is an emotionally disturbing story line about Jude, a highly successful lawyer and the brightest of the four men. The horrors of Jude’s victimization during his youth by the brothers of a monastery and his eventual abduction by Brother Luke, a pedophile and pimp, force him to struggle relentlessly with inner demons and a deep-seated distrust of others, with his pain manifested in constant acts of cutting.“ (From Library Journal)

Bettyville, by George Hodgman

“A witty, tender memoir of a son’s journey home to care for his irascible mother--a tale of secrets, silences, and enduring love. When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself--an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook--in a head-on collision with his aging mother. Betty, who speaks her mind but cannot quite reveal her heart, has never really accepted the fact that her son is gay. As these two unforgettable characters try to bring their different worlds together, Hodgman reveals the challenges of Betty’s life and his own struggle for self-respect, moving readers from their small town-crumbling but still colorful-to the star-studded corridors of Vanity Fair.” (Provided by publisher)

Been Here All Along, by Sandy Hall

This young adult novel is “an endearing and heartwarming narrative that is realistic and reflective. Kyle and Gideon have happily been best friends and next-door neighbors for much of their lives. However, Gideon unexpectedly develops romantic feelings for Kyle but is unsure as to how to proceed because Kyle is currently in a long-term relationship with Ruby. Told from each character’s first-person perspective, the novel presents the complicated process of self-discovery, social acceptance, and, ultimately, love. Readers follow Kyle, Gideon, and Ruby as they attempt to navigate unfamiliar terrain that could jeopardize their current relationships.” (From School Library Journal)

The Beast, by Brie Spangler

This “thought-provoking novel [is] about two shunned teens who struggle to make sense of the world and themselves. At nearly six foot four and covered with hair, 15-year-old Dylan Ingvarsson has been nicknamed the Beast, but he doesn’t feel like one. Mostly, he leads a quiet life, earning top grades in his class and supporting his widowed mother. When Dylan breaks his leg falling off a roof, perhaps not entirely accidentally, and ends up in therapy for self-harmers, he meets an intriguing girl named Jamie, a talented photographer, who seems to like Dylan for who he is. For the first time, Dylan finds himself falling in love, but then he learns something he missed while he was zoning out in therapy: Jamie is trans.” (From Publishers Weekly)